Bedcover holder



March 30, 1954 J FLEMING 2,673,356

BEDCOVER HOLDER Fild June 14, 1947 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 30, 1954 UNITED STATES 2,673,356 FF I CE ATENT 12 Claims.

The present invention relates in general to cover holders and deals more particularly with devices for anchoring the covers at the foot of a bed.

It is conventional practice to double the end of the bed covers over the foot of the mattress so that a portion is disposed between the mattress and the spring of the bed in order to hold the covers in place. Many individuals are sufiiciently restless in their sleep, however, that their moving and turning causes the covers to work loose and expose their feet. Also if the covers are short a sleeper sometimes pulls them out at the bottom of the bed in a subconscious effort to cover himself better when he is cold.

Not only is this exposure of feet unpleasant to the sleeper but it is the disarrangement of covers at the foot of the bed which so greatly increases the chore of remaking the bed the following morning, inasmuch as the individual covers must be brought back into their proper relationship to one another and to the bed, after which the end of the mattress must be lifted to permit doubling them under or tucking them in again.

Broadly speaking, it is the object of the present invention to provide a cover holder which will obviate the above difficulties. More specifi cally, it is an object to provide a cover holder which is simple and economical to make but rugged and sturdy in use; another object is to provide a cover holder which is adaptable to different beds, which is harmless to the bed and the bed clothing and which is very easy and convenient to use.

Other and further objects will appear in the course of the following description of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specification and are to be read in conjunction therewith and in which like reference numerals are employed to identify like parts of the various views,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bed with my bed cover holder in place thereon, part of the covers having been cut away for purposes of illustration,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the holder,

Fig. 3 is an elevational view of the holder,

Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the lines 4-4 of Fig. 3 in the direction of the arrows, and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged perspective view of one of the sliders employed to anchor my bed cover holder.

The bed shown in Fig. 1 is of conventional construction having a rectangular box spring l0 supported at one end by the headboard H and at the other end by legs I2. On the spring is a mattress E3, the bed covers l4 being draped over this in customary fashion and doubled under or tucked in at the foot of the bed so they are disposed between the mattress and the spring as indicated at l5.

v Positioned on the spring underneath this doubled-back portion of the bed clothing is my cover holder. It comprises an elongatedsemirigid strip ll made of aluminum or other material which will not stain or in any way damage the cloth it contacts. Only slightly shorter than the width of the bed the strip is arranged transversely thereof on the spring, as shown. It carries a row of upright needles or tines I8 pointed at their upper ends so that they pierce the doubled-under portion it of the bed clothing and extend into the mattress when same is allowed to rest in its normal position on the spring I 0. The needles may be affixed to the strip I 7 in any desired way, for example by providing holes in the strip for receiving their lower ends, each needle having a shouldered portion I9 adapted to bear against the upper side of the strip and being swedged or flared against the opposite side of the strip after insertion in the hole in order to make the needle rigid.

My cover holder also is provided with a pair of identical sliders 28 formed of a single piece of spring wire pointed at its ends and bent in the shape illustrated in Fig. 5. The sliders are disposed for the most part underneath the strip but each has upwardly and inwardly bent lips 21 and 22 embracing opposite edges of the strip to prevent lateral displacement of the sliders while permitting longitudinal movement thereof relative to the strip. In use the sliders are positioned near the ends of the strip with their prongs 23 directed toward the foot of the bed. Then the strip is drawn toward the foot of the bed to cause these prongs (which are inclined slightly downward as shown in Fig. 4) to penetrate the fabric covering of the box spring in or der to anchor the strip thereto.

Adjustment of the sliders laterally of the bed permits their position to be suited to the location of the metal coils in the spring and the prongs on the slider are provided with shallow U-bends 2 for receiving the top turn of a coil or the wire link between two coils. This arrangement is particularly useful in securing the strip to the bed spring where it is of the open coil type rather than the enclosed box type.

When the bed is made, the lower end of the mattress is lifted and the covers doubled under, as shown, so that when it is returned to its nor mal position the upright needles extend through the covers into the mattress. This further anchors the strip and it becomes virtually impossible to draw the covers from between the mattress and spring without first raising the end of the mattress to permit the covers to be lifted off of the needles. Thus there is no danger of the covers pulling out at the bottom and exposing the feet of the sleeper. It will be understood that even when there is a strong upward pull on the exposed portion of the covers little of this will reach the region of the needles 13 due to the friction or snubbing action resulting from the covers being doubled around the end of the mattress; such strain as does appear at the needles is dis- 3 tributed in accordance with the spacing of the needles and this spacing, of course, may be adjusted properly to prevent damage to the covers.

The need for doubling a considerable portion of the covers to anchor them in place is obviated, hence the useful portion remaining on top of the bed is correspondingly increased. on the other hand, the work of making up the bed after it has been slept in is greatly reduced because there can be no disarrangement of the covers at the foot of the bed and hence there needs to be no daily readjustment thereof; the covers will occupy their proper relationship indefinitely and it only becomes necessary to raise the mattress when the sheets or other covers are to be replaced.

From the foregoing it will be seen that this invention is one well adapted to attain all of the ends and objects hereinbefore set forth together with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to the apparatus.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and suboombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims.

Inasmuch as many possible embodiments of the invention may be made without departing from the scope thereof it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination with a mattress resting on a horizontal support and bed covers on the mattress folded downwardly and under the mattress at one edge thereof, a bed cover holder comprising a flat member on the support beneath the folded under portions of said covers, upstanding tines on said member penetrating the covers and having their points extending into the body of the mattress, and a device on said member detachably fastening same to said mattress support, said device being adjustable to different positions on said member thereby to facilitate the fastening thereof to said support.

2. In combination with a bed having a box spring with a mattress resting thereon and bed covers on the mattress extending down one edge of the mattress and back between the mattress and spring, a bed cover holder comprising a flat strip resting on the spring under the portion of the covers disposed between t1 e mattress and spring, upstanding tines on said strip penetrating said portion of the covers, a device mounted on the strip and adjustable longitudinally thereof, said device including means to detachably secure said strip to the spring.

3. In combination with a bed having a fabric covered box spring with a mattress resting thereon and bed covers on the mattress extending down one edge of the mattress and back between the mattress and spring, a bed cover holder com-- prising a flat strip resting on the springs under the portions of the covers disposed between the mattress and spring, upstanding tines on said strip penetrating said portions of the covers, a pair of devices slidably mounted on said strip so they are adjustable longitudinally thereof, and prongs projecting from the under side of said sliders penetrating the fabric covering of said box spring to anchor said strip.

4.. In combination with a bed having a conventional box spring of the coil-spring type with a mattress resting thereon and bed covers on the mattress extending down one edge-of tnemat tress and back between the mattress and spring, a bed cover holder comprising a flat strip resting on the spring under the portions of the covers disposed between the mattress and spring, upstanding tines on said strip penetrating said portions of" the covers, a pair of devices slidably mountedon said strip so they are adjustable longitudinally thereof, and prongs projecting from the under side of said sliders and extending under wire portions of said spring to anchor the strip.

5. A bed cover holder comprising a flat strip adapted to be interposed between a box spring and mattress, upstanding tines on the strip, and spring fingers positioned on the under side of said strip and attached thereto, said fingers adapted to project under portions of the box spring to hold the strip in place thereon.

6. A bed cover holder comprising a flat strip adapted to be interposed between the bed springs and mattress, upstanding tines on the strip, a slide mounted on said strip for longitudinal movement thereon, and a finger on said slide constructed and arranged to project under a portion of the bed spring to anchor said strip to the spring.

'7. A holder as in claim 6 wherein said finger has a U-bend intermediate its ends for receiving a wire portion of the bed spring.

8. A bed cover holder comprising a fiat strip adapted to be interposed between the bed springs and mattress, upstanding tines on the strip, a pair of sliders mounted on said strip for independent longitudinal movement thereon, and prongs on the under side of said sliders constructed and arranged to project under portions of the bed spring to anchor'the strip to the spring.

9. In combination with a bed having a box spring with a mattress resting thereon and bed covers on the mattress extending down one edge of the mattress and back between the mattress and spring, a bed cover holder comprising a fiat strip resting on the spring under the portion of the covers disposed between the mattress and spring, upstanding tines on said strip penetrating said portion-of the covers, and a device on the strip having fingers arranged transversely of the strip, said fingers projecting under portions of the spring thereby to hold said strip in place thereon.

10. A combination as in claim 9 wherein said box spring has a fabric cover and said fingers are pointed to penetrate the cover.

11. A combination as in claim 9 wherein said fingers have U-shaped bends intermediate their ends for receiving wire portions of the spring.

12. A bed cover holder comprising a flat strip adapted to be interposed between a box spring and mattress, upstanding tines on the strip, slides on said strip adjustable longitudinally thereof, and means on said slides for detachably securing same to the box spring thereby to secure said strip to the spring.

JAMES E. FLEMING.

References Cited in the file of this patent" UNITED STATES PATENTS 

